Tag Archives: mind the map

There’s now less than 10 days left to see our ‘Mind the Map’ exhibition!

Along with an incredible range of maps from our historic collection, the exhibition also includes some fantastic newly commissioned artworks. This includes works by Susan Stockwell and Agnes Poitevin-Navarre, whose artworks were created through contributions from members of the public.

Agnes Poitevin-Navarre asked Londoners for their response to the question ‘Where do you hope to be?’, from which she created her amazing artwork ‘The Land of Hopeful Commuters’.

Susan Stockwell collected used transport tickets from people all over the world from which she created her beautiful artwork ‘Memento’.

Both artists will be in the Museum’s galleries this Saturday 20th October from 3-4pm. Along with seeing their artworks you’ll have the chance to speak to the artists about their approach.

This is the final instalment in our series of Poster Parades linked to the Mind the Map exhibition, curated by the Museum’s Young Consultants and installed by our wonderful interns Siggy and San. For this display we’ve mapped London through posters. From north to south and east to west, these posters present and promote some of the fantastic places and attractions that London has to offer.

Transport posters have been used for well over 100 years, transport posters to highlight London’s leisure hotspots – from cultural landmarks and fine architecture through to fantastic open spaces. Londoners and visitors alike have been encouraged and inspired to use London’s public transport network to explore the city and beyond.

This week’s featured poster is London Subterranea by Stephen Walter (2012).

Subterranean London is an amalgamation of secret tunnels, buried rivers, sewers, utility pipes, bunkers and of course the London Underground along with its many now disused stations. Stephen Walter spent months researching and visiting sites underground to construct the final map. He also included mysterious elements such as ley lines, pagan burial sites and sites of unsolved murders. The original artwork was specially commissioned by London Transport Museum and features in the current exhibition Mind the Map which runs until the 28th of October.

Much of Stephen Walter’s worked is map based and always includes words and symbols to illustrate not just geographical landmarks but history, stories and trivia relating to a location. As well as drawing maps he works with a range of mediums including photography, digital drawing, painting and collage. His other notable works include cover illustrations for the successful books of Dr Who script writer Ben Aaronovitch – Rivers of London and Moon over Soho. His work has been included in the Royal Academy of Arts prestigious Summer Exhibition five times and is part of many important art collections including that of The British Library, the British Government Art Collection, the Royal College of Art Drawing Collection and now also London Transport Museum!

London Subterranea is the featured map in our final week of I-Spy Maps Summer Family Fun activities here at the Museum which finishes on Sunday 2nd of September. Families can discover the details of the map through story telling, games and craft workshops.

If you would like your own copy of this map to explore prints are available to buy in a range of sizes from our online shop.

On 17 May 2012 London Transport Museum ran a private viewing of the Mind the Map exhibition. We heard speeches from Sam Mullins (the director of the museum), Simon Patterson (creator of art works Great Bear and Saptarishi) and a spoken word piece performed by Kway, Elvis, Gloria and Izara (the museum’s Young Consultants). We got the chance to speak to people from the Geffrye museum and the Arts Council about the work we have been doing. We were also given the chance to talk to press about the exhibition and generally all the work the Young Consultants have been doing from 2009 onwards. This exhibition is currently running until 28 October 2012.

Waiting to go on stage was really nerve racking. We waited anxiously for Sam Mullins to finish introducing us, for us to then take our positions. When preforming our pieces the feeling was indescribable, the pride filled us as the hundreds of people clapped when we finished our piece. It was most definitely an amazing opportunity, to get on stage and have our voices heard by hundreds of people.

“The involvement of ‘young consultants’, a group of teenagers whom the museum involved through all stages of the exhibition’s planning, is the icing on the cake.” – Londonist

The Museum’s current poster parade display was curated and installed by our amazing Young Consultants, with input from young people in both the UK and Spain.

The display coincides with the Museum’s ‘Mind the Map: inspiring art, design and cartography’ exhibition. ‘Mind the Map’ features an incredible variety of maps, from those that help you get from A to B through to decorative maps, maps as publicity along with some amazing contemporary artworks that explore notions of ‘personal mapping’ and ‘journeys’. The poster display invites you to consider what a map is and can be and explores the many creative approaches to mapping London, its transport system and passengers’ journeys.

This display features labels written by members of the public. We asked young people to give their personal response to the posters on display. Along with involvement from young people in London, we were also lucky enough to work with the wonderful students from the Colegio Cardenal Spinola school in Spain, whose teacher Antonio Cortés has been using the Museum’s collection as a tool to spark discussion during his English language classes.

Each label features a response that reflects a personal journey or experience, bringing very new and insightful perspectives to the Museum’s collection.

Here’s a sample from people’s amazing contributions:

‘This poster reminds me of those nights where the sky is black and the stars light up and you are with someone you love and tell him to count the stars and you love him as much as there are stars in the sky.’
– Eva López, age 15, Cardenal Spínola School, near Seville, Spain

‘This poster reminds me of my journey and paths I have taken toward a life in performance. The bright lights of the signs welcome you into this surreal world that you never want to leave!’
– Gloria Gaspard, age 20, student and LTM Young Consultant, Highams Park, London

London Transport Museum has organised a community volunteer programme called the Happy Museum which aims to create a more inclusive Museum environment. The 7 volunteers working on the Happy Museum programme will develop a Handling Trolley which will be used as part of the museums Mind the Map exhibition.

The Volunteers Perspective
At the start of the project we discussed why we wanted to volunteer and what we wanted to achieve as volunteers. As a group we wanted to meet new people, gain work experience, and learn about the history of transport as well as be able to use Museum resources and work with Museum staff. We wanted to make use of our free time and for our contribution to be recognised. Last but not least we wanted to enjoy our time at London Transport Museum.

What we have done so far as a group is take a tour of both the Acton Depot and the London Transport Museum at Covent Garden. The Museum curators gave us a briefing on what the Handling Trolley is for and its role as an active exhibit. We also had a tour of the library, which will enable us to research and get a better understanding of the collection.
To see more photos from the Happy Museum volunteers see our Flickr set.

Again, a big thank you to everyone who has contributed so far to Agnès’ artwork, ‘The Land of Hopeful Commuters’! We now have almost 550 responses to the question ‘Where do you hope to be?’ – brilliant.

Our ‘Sense and the City’ exhibition has now finished and staff have been busy removing the exhibits, leaving space for us to embark on the ‘Mind the Map’ exhibition installation. Yesterday I met with Agnès to look at the space where her artwork will be displayed, to take into account any final adjustments that will need to be made before the work goes to print.

‘The Land of Hopeful Commuters’, Agnès Poitevin Navarre’s anecdotal map of London, is progressing nicely. We so far have almost 500 responses – thank you London! Some really beautiful/sad/funny/quirky contributions towards an artwork that will be a very different and insightful addition to the ‘Mind the Map’ exhibition, mapping the hopes and aspirations of London’s commuting public.

We’re still collecting responses so if you haven’t had a chance to contribute yet then it’s not too late. Agnès is looking to get responses from people all over London. At the moment, we’re particularly keen to hear from residents in:
Harrow
Ealing
Barnet
Hounslow
Enfield
Redbridge, and
Newham

We’ve had a fantastic response so far to ‘The Land of Hopeful Commuters‘ – thank you! So where do Londoners hope to be? ‘Where the currency is trust and everyone is wealthy’, ‘Baking brownies blissfully by Battersea before brunch’ and ‘Right here, right now’.

I’ll be spending today in the Museum’s galleries with one of our volunteers, Darren, asking Museum visitors where they hope to be. Last week we did a survey of Museum staff to get their responses, which Agnès used to create the below example of how the final artwork might look. Here’s some of the Museum staff’s responses, just to get the creative juices flowing:

– Picnicking in the park this summer, laughing with friends in London Fields
– New York
– In a place where my achievements outweigh my ambitions

I’ll be posting updates on the project as it develops. Look forward to receiving your response soon!